An electric motor is an electric machine that converts electrical energy into a mechanical energy. The electric motor typically operates through an interaction between an electric motor's magnetic fields and winding currents to generate force within the motor. This force provides a torque that may further be the source of the mechanical energy in the electric motor.
The electric motor can also perform the reverse and act as generators, to produce electrical energy from mechanical energy. For example, in electrical generators such as an alternator or a dynamo, the mechanical energy is transformed into electrical energy. In this example, the electric motor finds applications as diverse as industrial fans, blowers and pumps, machine tools, household appliances, power tools, and disk drives.
Furthermore, the electric motors can be powered by direct current sources, such as from batteries, motor vehicles or rectifiers, or by alternating current sources, such as from the power grid, inverters or generators. The largest of electric motors are used for ship propulsion, pipeline compression and pumped-storage applications with ratings of several megawatts.
The Detailed Description references the accompanying figures. In the figures, the left-most digit(s) of a reference number identifies the figure in which the reference number first appears. The same numbers are used throughout the drawings to reference like features and components.